Masahiko Horie, Japanese ambassador for global environmental affairs, told reporters in Doha that the Japanese government hasn't made a mid-term or 2020 target for cutting emissions.

"In the past three years, we have honored the first commitment of the Kyoto Protocol," he said. "Beyond 2013 ... the Japanese business federation will continue its voluntary efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions."..."Japan has also decided not to participate in the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol," he said. "That doesn't mean Japan will no longer have an obligation to reduce its emissions and provide financial and technical support to developing countries."

Last spring, NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies Director Dr. James Hansen, initially a climate skeptic, declared: “Now we can go beyond global and regional predictions because we have actual evidence that climate change has arrived, and is worse than we thought it would be.”